Toy airplane



1962 D. w. MAIN 3,063,191

TOY AIRPLANE Filed Oct. 25, 1958 u. INVENTOR. Fig.7 David w. Main 8 BYWHITEHEAD, VOGL LOWE M &

ATTORNEYS Sites 3,063,191 TOY LANE David W. Main, 1252 Columbine St,Denver 6, Colo. Fried Oct. 23, 1953, Ser. No. 769,192 3 Claims. (Cl.46-79) to permit a smooth balanced flight of the toy along a se- Ilected course.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved toyairplane which is especially adapted to be catapulted as from a sling toperform diverse maneuvers and for a gliding flight of a considerabledistance.

A very important object of the invention is to provide in a toy airplanean improved and simplified interconnected wing and tail constructionwhich permits the use of thin flat sheets of moderately rigid plasticmaterial in its fabrication.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a novel and improvedtoy airplane, a simplified wing, body and tail construction which isadapted to be fabricated by easy and quick interconnection of thecomponent elements.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a toy airplane animproved arrangement of airfoil and vane structures which enhance thestability of the toy airplane in flight and which tend to cause the toyairplane to turn into the wind in flight whenever the wind directionsuddenly shifts or the flight velocity is reduced to a critical minimumvelocity for stability.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improvedarrangement of airfoil and vane structures which enhance the stabilityof a toy airplane and which, also, are aerodynamically feasible for usewith prototype planes in commercial use.

Another object of this invention is to provide in a toy airplane a novelstatic electric motor for rotating the propeller from electro-staticfriction generated on the fuselage of the airplane.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a novel and improvedplastic toy airplane of a simplified construction which isneat-appearing, easily-manufactured and is a lowcost, rugged and durableunit.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, all of which more fullyhereinafter appear, my invention comprises certain novel and improvedconstructions, combinations and arrangements of parts and elements ashereinafter described, defined in the appended claims and illustrated inpreferred embodiment in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of my toy airplane constructed inaccordance with the principles of the invention.

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal sectional elevation view of the toy airplaneas taken from the indicated line 2--2 at FIG. 1.

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary sectional detail view, as taken from theindicated line 33 at FIG. 2, but on an enlarged scale with wingtipportions being broken away to conserve space and with the thickness ofthe respective elements being slightly exaggerated for betterillustration of the structure thereof.

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of the combined wing and Patented Nov. 13, 1962ice tail elements for a toy airplane interconnected in accordance withthe principles of the invention, all as illustrated at FIG. 1, but on areduced scale.

FIGURE 5 is a longitudinal sectional elevation view of the rear portionof a toy airplane, similar to the illustration at FIG. 2, but showing analternate construction thereof.

FIGURE 6 is a bottom view of the FIG. 5 illustration, but with wingtipportions being broken away to conserve space and with broken linesindicating, symbolically, an actuating mechanism which may be used inconjunction with the invention.

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary sectional detail as viewed from the indicatedline 77 at FIG. 6.

FIGURE 8 is a bottom view similar to FIG. 6, but illustrating anotheralternate form of construction thereof.

There is a real and definite need for an improved toy airplaneconstructed along such lines, with sheet plastic wings and aninjection-molded body, combining these materials to give the toy arealistic appearance and also good aerodynamic properties so that thetoy will glide, stunt and soar through the air in a realistic manner.With such and other considerations in view, the present invention wasconceived and developed and comprises in essence, a plastic toy airplaneformed in a novel, ingenious manner which takes full advantage of theavailable types of materials to obtain a compact, neat unit which may beproduced at low unit cost. Moreover, in developing such a unit, certaindiscoveries were made which enhance the aerodynamic properties of anairplane to provide for improved gliding qualities and stability. It isrecognized that such improved constructions might also be used in actualprototype airplanes, since the action of a properly balanced toyairplane can well be a model of a prototype and both model and prototypewill perform according to well known recognized laws of physicalsimilitude.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the toy airplane is of asimple design incorporating therein all of the ordinary elements of acommon airplane, a longitudinally disposed body 10, transverselyoutstanding wings 11, a vertical tail rudder fin 12 and horizontal tailfins 13. The unit illustrated is analogous to certain types ofmonoplanes having backswept wings with the wings being comparativelyclose to the tail fins 13'. However, this arrangement is merely aduplication or simulation of one of several designs of modern high speedairplanes and the invention, as hereinafter described, is alsoapplicable to airplanes having different wing and tail arrangements fromthat shown.

The body 10 is preferably formed by injection molding of thermoplasticmaterial and may include details molded in its surface to delineatefeatures of a regular airplane, but since such details are of adecorative nature they are not herein shown. A nock 10a is included atthe underside of the body to hold it in a sling for catapulting. Thebody also includes a pin 14 at its front which carries a propeller 15that will rotate on the pin in a realistic manner when the toy issailing.

The body form is preferably narrow with the vertical tail fin 12included in the molding, but the wings 11 and horizontal tail fins 13are formed as a unitary member of a thin plastic sheet material and arejoined together by a central longitudinally-disposed flat connectingstrip 16 and other connecting strips, hereinafter described. In order toaccommodate and hold this combined wing-tail unit 13, a longitudinalslot 17 extends through the body and this slot is reinforced byoutstanding upper flanges 18 and lower flanges 19. The Width of the slot17 is such that the wing-tail unit will fit tightly in place, but thecenter portion of the slot is widened as at 20 to permit the wing-tailunit to be easily threaded into the slot when the toy is beingassembled. A notch 11a is formed at the center of the front edge of thewing which is adapted to lock the wing-tail unit in place in the slot17.

The thin plastic sheet forming the wings 11 and horizontal tail fins 13may be of a polystyrene or mylar film or similar material. Such sheetmaterials are tough and strong, but are flexible. However, it wasdiscovered that a certain amount of flexiblity is not objectional if aninterrelated aerodynamic stability is maintained between the wings andthe horizontal tail fins. In order to accomplish this desirablecondition, the outer sections of the wings and tail fins areinterconnected by longitudinally disposed strips 21 at the approximateouter third points of each wing. With such structure, flexure of a wing11 as from the weight of the toy, is accompanied by like flexure of thehorizontal tail fin 13.

To complete the unit, the tip 22 of each wing 11 is turned upwardly asat the fold line 23 any desired amount to provide for lift andstability, and the tip 24 of each tail fin 13 is similarly turnedupwardly as at a fold line 25 for like reasons. In addition, tailelevators 26 may be formed in the flat surface of the tail and ailerons,not shown, may be formed in the wings if desired.

This unitary member forming the wings 11 and tail fins 13 may be easilystamped out of a block of plastic sheet with a properly shaped die, tothe desired form as illustrated at FIG. 4, wherein the broken linesindicate the fold lines 23 and 25 and the fold lines at the tailelevators 26. Such structure, being easily made, reduces the cost of thetoy.

In tests it was noted that whenever this toy airplane would reach itscritical minimum speed for sustaining flight, it would lose itsstability and fall or spin out as does a full size airplane. However, itwas further discovered that if an off-setting vane 27 werelongitudinally disposed underneath the body of the toy plane as in themanner illustrated at FIGS. through 8, the toy plane would naturallytend to turn into and face the wind whenever the wind was not againstthe direction of flight. In so turning into the wind, its relativelyincreased velocity would be such as to permit the toy to make an easy,flat or pancake landing and minimize danger of the toy from beingdamaged by an erratic landing. As shown in FIGS. 5-8, inclusive, thebody actually may be referred to as as first or upper longitudinalstrip. A second longitudinally extending strip is the offsetting vane 27which can occupy a normal position in which it is substantially coplanarwith the body 10 or can be flexed to the right or left of such normalposition substantially in the manner shown in FIG. 6.

The action of the offset vane 27, which is substantially the same effectas curving the body, is not fully understood, but it produces a far morestable flight at slow velocities without seeming to affect the normalflight at higher velocities. This vane 27 may be offset from the axis ofthe body 10 to either side thereof and work equally well.

In the illustration at FIGS. 5 to 7, the vane is held in offset positionby knobs 28 at the underside of the plane body or as an alternative, theoffset can be held to any position by a positive control as indicated bythe broken lines 29 at FIGS. 5 and 7. As in the illustration at FIG. 8,the offset can also be made permanent with the vane 29a being affixed tothe underside of the body.

It is to be noted that the action of such toy planes havinglongitudinally disposed offsetting vanes, will favorably stabilize theflight of the toys as hereinbefore set forth, and that the toy airplaneswill act much the same as the prototype planes when they are in flight.Therefore, it is apparent that this structure disclosed will be usefulin stabilizing the flight of prototype airplanes whenever they are inflight and are ready to land, for then they often approach a criticalminimum velocity and a number of serious accidents have occurred at suchtime.

It is a known fact that upon trying to make a threepoint landing or asmooth, flat landing of a prototype plane a suddent shift of winddirection may cause the wings of the plane to momentarily lose theirlifting power or to cause one wing to lift in excessive degree with atendency to overturn the plane at a critical moment. These things arebeyond the power of the pilot to obviate with conventional controls andan automatic device which will cure the condition and avoid a chance ofinjury to the pilot and damage to the plane is desirable.

As a supplementary feature the toy airplane includes a novelstatic-electric motor for rotating the propeller 15 from staticfriction. This is accomplished by the employment of motivating meansalong the fuselage as at a serrated edge 30, the movement of a rod, combor the like on these serrations will produce an action that causes thepropeller to rotate. When employed in combination with the otherfeatures of this improved toy airplane, the adaptability and versatilityof the toy is thereby enhanced.

Another feature of the toy plane is illustrated at FIG. 6 and is in theform of a cavity 31 at the lower edge of the front of the body of theplane. This cavity is at a desirable location to hold ballast to weightdown the front of the toy airplane to balance it in flight andespecially for balancing the toy should the propeller 15 he accidentallybroken. A suitable ballast material is easily obtained clay, which issufficiently heavy for the purpose. However, other material such as leadfoil may also be used.

While I have described my invention in considerable detail, it isobvious that others skilled in the art can devise and build alternateand equivalent structures which are within the spirit and scope of myinvention; hence, it is to be understood that my protection will belimited, not by the constructions illustrated and described, but only bythe proper scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An airplane comprising a fuselage having a forward end and a rearwardend, wings attached to the fuselage adjacent the forward end thereof,said wings projecting laterally on opposite sides of the fuselage, atail-element attached to the fuselage rearwardly of and in substantiallythe same plane as each of the wings, the leading edge of each suchtail-element being spaced rearwardly from the trailing edge of the wingbehind which it is located, a first longitudinally extending stripintegral with the fuselage, said strip extending lengthwise along thefuselage from the forward to the rearward end thereof, and a secondlongitudinal strip hingedly connected at its forward end to the firstlongitudinal strip and extending rearwardly beneath the firstlongitudinal strip in edge-to-edge relationship therewith, said secondlongitudinal strip being separate from the first strip along its rearportion so as to be capable of being flexed laterally With respect tothe first longitudinal strip.

2. An airplane comprising a fuselage having a forward end and a rearwardend, wings attached to the fuselage adjacent the forward end thereof,said wings projecting laterally on opposite sides of the fuselage, atail-element attached to the fuselage rearwardly of and in substantiallythe same plane as each of the wings, the leading edge of each suchtail-element being spaced rearwardly from the trailing edge of the wingbehind which it is located, a first longitudinally extending stripintegral with the fuselage, said strip extending lengthwise along thefuselage from the forward to the rearward end thereof, and a secondlongitudinal strip hingedly connected at its forward end to the firstlongitudinal strip and extending rearwardly beneath the firstlongitudinal strip in edgeto-edge relationship therewith, said secondlongitudinal strip having a terminal portion at its rear end, whichterminal portion is located rearwardly of the trailing edge of thetail-elements and is separated from the first longi- '-tudinal strip soas to be capable of being flexed into a laterally deflected positionwith respect to the first longitudinal strip.

3. An airplane comprising a fuselage having a forward end and a rearwardend, wings attached to the fuselage adjacent the forward end thereof,said wings projecting laterally on opposite sides of the fuselage, atail-element attached to the fuselage rearwardly of and in substantiallythe same" plane as each of the Wings, the leading edge of each suchtail-element being spaced rearwardly from the trailing edge of the Wingbehind which it is located, *a longitudinally extending connector memberrigidly attached at its forward end to each wing in outwardly spacedrelation to the fuselage, said member further being rigidly attached atits rear end to the tail-element located at the rear thereof so as tointerconnect the wing and tail-element so as to form a laterallyextending closed-end gap between each such wing and tail-element, afirst longitudinally extending strip integral with the fuselage, saidstrip extending lengthwise along the fuselage from the forward to therearward end thereof, and a second longitudinal strip hingedly connectedat its forward end to the first longitudinal strip and extendingrearwardly 6 beneath the first longitudinal strip in edge-to-edge relat-ionship therewith, said second longitudinal strip being separate fromthe first strip along its rear portion so as to be capable of beingflexed laterally with respect to the first longitudinal strip.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS865,419

